Inuyasha's Kagome
by elfgurl87
Summary: Kagome's been hurt. Badly. How will Inuyasha cope? This is my first posted fic, so please, some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcome. Be kind to the inexperienced author!


**Inuyasha's Kagome**

Kagome had been hurt during the final fight with Naraku. Badly. But if it hadn't have been for her actions, the battle would have been lost.

Inu-Yasha kept playing the scene over in his head, trying to find some way that he could have kept her from her injury, some way he could have protected her. It had been hours since he had started, and he still was at a loss for what he could have done differently.

Less than a day ago, Inu-Yasha and Naraku were fighting face to face. Sango and Miroku had both been injured and Kagome felt helpless.

She watched from her hiding place as poison claws raked Inu-Yasha's skin and he cried out in pain. He was going to loose if he kept it up. He was going to die. Along with Sango and Miroku and Shippo and all of the others in the feudal era.

Inu-Yasha hit the ground before her and laid still, stunned.

Making a quick decision, Kagome grabbed her arrows and bow and jumped into the fray. She loosed arrow after arrow, startling Naraku. He backed up as he was bombarded by arrows, giving Kagome more confidence as she moved forward to continue after him.

This was her winning move. And her mistake.

In one swift movement, Naraku was less than an inch before her, his multiple arms wrapping around her waist, keeping her from her retreat. From behind, a monstrous clawed hand cut deep into her belly. She screamed as Naraku chuckled his victory. His attention turned to the paralyzed Inu-Yasha, a triumphant smirk on his face. His attention wasn't on the victim still struggling in his grip.

While his attention was on the hanyou Kagome reached behind her, pulling loose her last arrow, and with all of the strength she held, rammed it into his head. His laughter stopped as the arrow easily broke through his skull, and his entire body was pierced by light.

Without a sound, but with a look of distaste on his face, he disintegrated. Leaving Kagome to fall to the battered earth, clutching her bleeding wound.

Inu-Yasha had seen it all through heavy eyelids, his body possessed by the poison of Naraku's maisma. But as soon as the evil hanyou had been destroyed, the poison dissipated as well.

When he had control over his body, Inu-Yasha rushed to Kagome, who lay pale and moaning on the ground. He gently cradled her in his arms, like a child. Wiping sweat-matted black hair from her face, he whispered.

"Kagome… Kagome, stay awake. Stay with me. Please, Kagome…"

The coppery sent of her blood reached his nose. She smiled up at him before slipping into unconsciousness.

He roused Miroku and Sango, and rushed back to the village. Once there, Kaede silently bandaged Kagome's side, shaking her head sadly all the while. But Inu-Yasha couldn't believe, wouldn't believe, that Kagome wouldn't make it.

She had been injured before, and they had come so far from when they first started. They had survived so much, only for Kagome to die after Naraku had been defeated?

No. It couldn't happen. It was too cruel.

So Inu-Yasha stayed by Kagome's side, never letting go of her hand. And, in her lapses of consciousness, Kagome only smiled wistfully at him, hardly saying anything, seemingly satisfied only to see his face and feel his touch.

Inu-Yasha constantly spoke to her in soft tones during her moments of wakefulness, but soon his breath grew ragged, and tears threatened to fall.

"I'm sorry, Kagome. I couldn't protect you. I wasn't strong enough!"

She only shook her head, struggling to bring words past her lips. "No… You were strong enough… I could never ask for more than what you always gave me… I made my choice to protect you today, and I will never regret it."

He grasped her hand tighter, wishing that she had run, wishing that she had never stayed and saved him, wishing…

Kagome winced and groaned. A shaky breath escaped her as she chuckled softly. "So this is dying…"

The hanyou looked shocked for a moment, his voice loud as he felt panic rush though him. "No! You are not dying! You can't die… Please, Kagome… Don't leave me…"

Kagome clicked her tongue against her teeth, an expression she used to show both irritation and affection. "Baka. I'll never leave you."

She reached up and touched his forehead with her index finger. "I'll always be right here." Then she trailed her finger to his chest, over his heart. "And I hope here, too." Smiling sweetly at him, she took his hand and pressed it to her chest, over her own, slowing heart. "I know you'll always be right here…"

Inu-Yasha grimaced as the tears overpowered him, and clenched his eyes shut while pressing her other hand against his face. Then, he felt the muscles in that hand go tense… and finally relax.

When his eyes reluctantly opened, she was gone.

Sango and Miroku heard the scream. Heartbreak, sorrow, pain, remorse, guilt, loss, and so many other horrible emotions were audible in that one ongoing howl.

Tears immediately filled Sango's eyes as she realized what had happened. She buried her face in Miroku's robes, sobbing uncontrollably for the loss of her best friend and savior.

Miroku held her gently, offering all the comfort he could while a tear ran from his own eye. Sango cried herself to sleep in his arms.

After carrying her to her bedroll and laying her down, Miroku went out.

The stars twinkled brightly, happily, as if Kagome's death was of no matter. He silently cursed them for not darkening with sorrow as well.

The monk wandered aimlessly, needing to move, yet not wanting to go anywhere. It was near the tallest cherry tree that he heard it. Grunting and sniffing. Miroku rounded the tree to find Inu-Yasha as he desperately scraped at the ground, forming a large hole, tears running down his face.

Miroku didn't move for a moment, then slowly walked forward and placed his hand on the hanyou's shoulder.

Inu-Yasha stopped abruptly, turning his head away from the monk, hiding the tears automatically. His voice was soft and sorrowful. "Kagome always loved sitting under this tree. It could have been the dead of winter, snow falling, and I would find her here, shivering, with that stupid smile on her face…"

Miroku's voice was soft and understanding. "Inu-Yasha…"

The hanyou pounded the ground with his fists, making the earth shake. "Damn it! Why did she have to do that! Why did she have to make me love her so much, and then…" His shoulders shook with silent sobs, his face still turned away.

Miroku was shocked for a moment. The hanyou had never said that out loud. "You… loved her."

Inu-Yasha finally whirled around to face the monk, tears in his eyes, hands in fists at his side. "Of course I loved her! I love her still! I will always love her! And I was too fucking stuck-up to ever say that to her… Not even once, when she needed to hear it the most…"

Turning around, the hanyou shot his fist toward Kagome's cherry tree with enough force to drive it from the ground. With a grunt, he stopped himself short of touching it, and let his arms fall loosely at his sides. His head fell in sadness. "I've got to finish this. I want Kagome to be able to see the blossoms in the spring…"

With that, he turned his back on the stunned monk, and started digging again.

Miroku's eyes were wide with shock; his hands had come up to protect his face from the splinters that the tree would have given off… But the Inu-Yasha had stopped himself. He had never stopped himself from hitting anything before.

Miroku ran a hand over his face, and gave a shaky sigh. With one last look at the mourning half-demon, he turned his back and headed back to the village.

Inu-Yasha worked through the night, and in the morning he laid Kagome's body in it. Sango, Miroku, Shippo and the others watched solemnly as the miko from another world disappeared into the earth.

Long after everyone left, Sango and Shippo still in tears, Inu-Yasha stayed by the freshly disturbed earth. His hand limply held a blue iris, Kagome's favorite flower. He gently laid the flower down and turned, carving words into the tree with his claws before walking away. _Brave one. Loved one._

A piece of torn cloth clutched tightly in his hand, Inu-Yasha walked slowly toward the sacred well. Jumping down, he felt the familiar weightlessness of time travel wrap around him. Before he knew it, he was looking at the busy streets and sidewalks of Kagome's time.

Walking toward her home, scraps of memories assaulted him from all sides:

Kagome's face red with anger as she pushed him toward the well…

Kagome laughing at him…

Kagome crying because of him…

Kagome smiling at him…

"Inu-Yasha?"

The hanyou jumped at the female voice, and turned to see Kagome's mother standing not far from him, her arms full of bags and her face holding a frown.

He turned to her, swallowing hard. Not really feeling nervous, but hating himself all over again.

She tilted her head to the side. "Where's Kagome?" His jaw clenched, and his eyes found the pavement. He forced his voice to work, but, even so, it came out as a rough whisper. "I'm sorry." He held out half of a handkerchief, stained with blood, to the woman.

She took it, looking confused. "What…? Is this blood…"

Inu-Yasha grimaced. "Yes. It is."

The woman looked at it again, and her bags dropped from her arms. Her eyes grew wide. The hanyou could feel the wave of panic rush through her.

"This… this is…" Her voice trailed off.

He brought his eyes up and locked gazes with her. His eyes streamed tears, and he didn't even try to hide the pain and sorrow behind them. "I'm so sorry. She saved me… She saved our world. Naraku… Kagome fought Naraku two days ago, and won. She… died in my arms yesterday of her wounds."

The woman's eyes immediately filled with tears. She fell to her knees, and Inu-Yasha felt as if he would die right there from sheer guilt and horror at what he had just done to the woman. He hadn't been able to protect her daughter. He had as good as killed Kagome. The hanyou couldn't control the one sob that escaped his lips.

He grimaced and turned away. "I'm sorry. She… I would give my life to bring her back. I would give my soul if I could just hear her laugh…" He winced as more tears came to his eyes. "I know you must hate me now. I won't come back."

Inu-Yasha started to leave, but he felt a tug on his pant leg. Turning, he saw Kagome's sobbing mother holding on to him.

She looked up to him and smiled lightly. "Please… Come back again. I would never hate the one who my daughter loved so deeply. And who so deeply loved her. Please, come back again."

Inu-Yasha dropped to his knees and grabbed the woman in a quick hug, before running swiftly back to the well, back to his own time.

Inu-Yasha didn't go back to the others. He didn't go back to Kagome's grave. There was no point. There was nothing left for him anymore. So he left.

At first he ran, so fast that only other demons could keep up with him. But, after a few days, he walked.

Aimlessly, he wandered around the countryside, never noticing the time gone past or the sun over his head. His heart was dead, he came to realize later, as he shivered at the top of a snow-covered mountain. That's why he felt nothing but emptiness and loss. That's why he had wandered days without sleep or food. His heart didn't live. He was an empty shell.

Inu-Yasha walked slowly down a village road. His feet were numb up to the knee and he didn't care. Moving was the only thing he did anymore.

A loud male voice made his ears twitch, but he showed no other reaction.

"Inu-Yasha. Alone again, my dear brother?" Sesshoumaru landed easily in front of his brother, his smile cold and poisonous. "It has been so long. Why do you trespass in my lands?"

Inu-Yasha didn't move. He just stared at his half brother, not surprised, not scared, just emotionless. He said nothing.

Sesshoumaru frowned, seemingly amused. "What is this? No threats? Or am I not worth your breath anymore, dear brother?"

Still, the hanyou said nothing.

After a few moments of silence, the older brother became upset, thinking this emotionless reaction to be some kind of new insult his younger, half-human brother had thought of. He stretched his hand and cracked his claws. "We will see how long you stay silent! Fight, brother, and prepare to die!"

Sesshoumaru launched himself into the air, coming strait down at Inu-Yasha, poison claws ready to kill.

The half-demon just looked up as a tear formed in his eye. A smile was on his face, and before the claws ripped into him, he whispered. "Thank you…"

Inu-Yasha jolted awake, sitting strait up in a cold sweat and ready to fight. He glanced around and sighed relief, falling back on his elbows. It had only been a dream!

He heard a tired groan and felt someone moving at his left side. A sleepy female voice reached his ears. "What is it, Yasha?"

He turned over to look at Kagome, her eyes barely open, and smiled. "I just had a nightmare…"

She shook her head to clear it, and propped herself up on her arm to see him better. "A nightmare? About what?"

He smirked, remembering how real it had been. "Nothing… Nothing important, anyway. Lay back down."

Kagome happily obliged, and Inu-Yasha draped an arm over her, pulling her close and nuzzling her hair. She hummed happily, wrapping her arms around him and rubbed her nose against his cheek.

He moved down, gently pulling out of her embrace, to put his ear to her stomach.

She laughed, swatting at his ears softly. "Inu-Yasha! Not again. It's the middle of the night! It'll be there in the morning!"

He growled. "Hush, woman! I'm trying to listen."

She stayed quiet, smiling sleepily at him as he found it.

The steady sound of Kagome's heart… and the heartbeat of their unborn child.


End file.
